Method and system for recording evidence of assent

ABSTRACT

A system and method for recording the evidence of intent of a party to a transaction, archiving this speech recording, and notifying and making it available to interested parties. A party seeking an affirmation will send to the affirming party a communication outlining the terms of the affirmation to be made, and also a transaction identifier by which a system may identify the parties to the transaction. The affirming party communicates with the system. The affirming party communicates the transaction identifier, and subsequently recites a spoken affirmation which is recorded by the system. The system then stores the recording in association with a recording identifier which can be used later to retrieve the recording. Finally, the system communicates the recording identifier both to the affirming party and to the party requesting the affirmation. The requesting party is thus informed that the affirmation has been made.

RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority of British Provisional PatentApplication Number 0022498.0, filed Sep. 14, 2000, which is expresslyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0002] The present invention is directed to a system and method forrecording evidence of assent to a transaction in the field of computersystems for electronic and automated commerce, and more particularly, toa system and method whereby recorded evidence of a party's assent to atransaction is subsequently made available to the relying parties.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

[0003] The disclosure herein contains material which is subject tocopyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to thefacsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patentdisclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office, patent fileor records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] For a contract to exist between two parties, there must be, interalia, intent to enter into reciprocal obligations, agreement as to thenature of those obligations, and assent thereto. Evidence of assentmight include evidence of oral undertakings, complete or partialfulfilment of the contractual undertakings, and formal acts of signingwritten statements.

[0005] Historically, the greater part of commerce was conductedface-to-face. Most contracts were made orally and evidence of assent wasobtained from human witnesses. Longer-range contracts would moretypically be effected on paper. In this case, the affixing of a seal ora handwritten signature would constitute physical evidence of a solemnact of assent to the terms of the contract. In particularly solemnsituations, an independent third party, e.g., a notary, would likewiseattest his observation of the solemn act, further strengthening theevidence of assent.

[0006] With the advent of modern telecommunications, commercial entitiesincreasingly operate on a national or international basis. In the courseof their business, companies rely upon contracts with a greater numberof parties, often over an ever wider geographical area. However, thedevelopment of large-scale commerce has not yet accommodated the need togather and preserve evidence of assent to a commercial transaction. Inthe case of written contracts for example, evidence of assent—thehandwritten signature—has typically been handled by means of thenineteenth century postal system.

[0007] In recent years, attempts have been made to address the problemof evidencing assent to commercial transactions in the electroniccommerce domain. Most “online” transactions are consummated by a partyclicking on an icon indicating his assent. Early attempts to address thelack of a signature have focused on the issue of the identity of thecontracting party. So, for example, the so-called digital signaturesystem relies on the association of secret information with a particularindividual or entity. In order to digitally sign a message, one must bein possession of a secret encryption key. While it can be proved that amessage cannot be signed without possession of the secret key, the mereexistence of a digital signature does not of itself provide any evidencethat the secret was not divulged or in some other way compromised. Someproponents of the digital signature system seek to strengthen it byadding a biometric check, which requires an individual to have thespecific physical or behavioural attributes of the authorized signatoryto gain access to the secret encryption key.

[0008] However, such attempts inevitably fail, in that they do notaddress the more fundamental issue of assent. Handwritten signaturesfunction as indicators of assent because of two cultural conventions.The first is that a signature is understood to indicate assent to thepreceding text of a paper document. The second is that the making of ahandwritten signature is culturally associated with the undertaking of asolemn commitment. Digital signatures enjoy neither of these culturalassociations. In the first place, the only association with the text ofthe document is a mathematical one which the signatory has no means ofverifying. In the second, the sequence of actions required to perform adigital signature are not a matter of public convention, nor even ofcommon knowledge. It would be easy for a signatory to repudiate adigital signature, either by alleging that he was ignorant of themeaning of the signed data, or denying that the steps he took to providea digital signature expressed assent. In order to establish either ofthese points, therefore, a digital signature system is reliant on other,extrinsic evidence.

[0009] A quite different approach was taken by those inventors whosought to employ computer technology to gather evidence of informedconsent to undergoing medical procedures. For example, in U.S. Pat. No.5,857,028, a system is described that is equipped with speech outputfacilities which, having presented the affirming party with the contentof the affirmation, obtained evidence of his comprehension by inducinghim to answer a questionnaire by pressing appropriate keys on a computerkeyboard and signify his final acceptance by giving a fingerprintsample. Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,440, which describes asimilar system where the affirming party is invited to submit adigitally recorded handwritten signature. Such systems, however, canonly be applied in very specialized circumstances and are ill suited togeneral-purpose declarations and agreements. Further, the evidentiallink between the interactions (such as keystrokes) of the affirmingparty and the “signing” act (e.g., the giving of a fingerprint sample ora digitized handwritten signature) is not self-evident, and would needto be supported by expert testimony in a forensic context. Finally,these methods cannot make the evidentiary record available to theinterested parties.

[0010] In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,544,255, 5,647,017, 5,818,955 and 6,064,751,Smithies and Newman proposed a system which sought to overcome most ofthese defects. The system described in the Smithies and Newman patentsenabled handwritten signatures to be created in association withelectronic documents and communicated within the electronic domain. Thedescribed system invited the signatory to sign in the context of adisplay showing a statement of the import of the message to be signed.This statement was then stored together with the signature data. Theproximity of the statement of intention and the conventions surroundingthe execution of a handwritten signature provided good evidence ofassent to the contents of the signed message.

[0011] Subsequently, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,091,835, Smithies et al.described a system that was not restricted to the use of handwrittensignatures, but could equally use speech recording, fingerprintsampling, or the input of a password or digital signature. This systemsought to overcome the limitations of non-standard signing techniques byenabling prompts to be displayed to the signatory explaining thesignificance of what he was being asked to do. Evidence of informedconsent was produced at every stage: the system logged all the promptsdisplayed to the signatory and all the signatory's interactions in anelectronic transcript. However, the matter to be signed was necessarilyexpressed in digital form, as was the assent to the matter, and the twowere inextricably linked.

[0012] Although the foregoing solutions attempt to provide evidence ofinformed consent, they suffer from severe limitations. First, theyrequire the signatory to have access to specialized hardware. Second,they require that the signatory have special software installed on hiscomputer. Third, they have no facility for making the evidence of assentavailable to the interested parties.

[0013] Their fourth and most serious shortcoming is one that is sharedby all forms of electronic signing proposed to date. That is that theyare bonded to a specific digital embodiment of the signed data. Aconversion of the signed data from one electronic format to another(which frequently occurs as a result of software upgrades) willinvalidate an electronic signature without necessarily changing themeaning of the data. This has two consequences. The first is that overthe course of time, digital embodiments of documents such as contractsare apt to change. Custodians of archives of electronically signeddocuments are thus faced with the dilemma of either maintaining thosedocuments in their original, archaic form or converting them to a moreup-to-date form and thus invalidating the electronic signature. Thesecond consequence is that existing electronic signing procedures cannotbe used to signify acceptance of terms which are communicated by meansof a paper document. They can only be used to sign something which is indigital form.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0014] The present invention is directed to a method and system wherebya party may affirm a document, transaction or action by communicatingwith a recording system and recording a statement of his intention withregard to that document, transaction or action to evidence his assent.In general, the method and system may be applied in any case where aparty requires reliable evidence of assent or intent by another party.

[0015] In the present invention, a recording system is primed on behalfof a relying party to expect a communication from an affirming party.When communications are established between the recording system and theaffirming party, the system receives from the affirming party anidentifier that identifies the document, transaction or action, and thenmakes a recording of an oral statement of affirmation from the affirmingparty. This recording is then archived and made available to interestedparties, e.g., the relying and affirming parties.

[0016] The present invention could typically be used in the context of acontract of sale between a vendor and a customer. The vendor prepares acontract. The vendor then negotiates with a recording system toestablish an identifier to associate the parties and the specificcontract. The recording system stores this identifier, which will beused later to associate the contract with an affirming party—here, thecustomer.

[0017] The vendor then independently communicates to the customer amessage that includes a summary of the contract of sale, the identifierand an invitation to communicate with the recording system to confirmhis acceptance of the terms of the contract.

[0018] If the customer chooses to affirm the contract, he communicateswith the recording system. Once communications are established betweenthe recording system and the customer, the system prompts the customerto communicate the identifier. Once the system has received theidentifier, it then prompts the customer to recite a declaration orsummary statement evidencing his assent to the contract. After therecording is completed, the recording system provides the customer witha recording identifier that can be used to retrieve the recording fromthe archives of the system. The system also transmits a recordingidentifier to the relying party—here, the vendor—to notify them of theaffirmation so that they too may retrieve the recording of the affirmingstatement. Finally, the system archives the recording for later recallin the event there is a dispute between the parties.

[0019] It will be apparent that this invention is able to address theshortcomings of all existing approaches to solemnizing a contract, whiledoing so in a form which is convenient to modern electroniccommunication and storage mechanisms. First, unlike electronic signingmechanisms, it requires no special-purpose hardware.

[0020] Second, a voice recording provides good evidence of the identityof the affirming party without the need for expert testimony. In manycases, for example, a close friend or relation can verify the identityof the speaker on the basis of the recorded statement. Alternatively, acomputer biometric system can be integrated with the current inventionin order to provide automatic verification of identity.

[0021] Third, the context in which an affirming party records hisaffirmation provides excellent evidence that he was acting with aspecific intent.

[0022] Fourth, the evidentiary value of the recorded affirmation doesnot rely upon any particular digital embodiment of the contract oragreement being affirmed. In principle, the sound recording archived bythe current invention can stand as evidence of the contract even in theabsence of any digital embodiment. It is thus uniquely suitable for theelectronic acceptance of offers expressed in non-digital form—forexample, on paper.

[0023] Finally, the current invention offers the significant advantagethat the vendor can be automatically notified of the customer'sacceptance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary environmentfor employing the present invention.

[0025] FIGS. 2-4 illustrate, in block diagram format, the flow ofinteraction between parties to a transaction and a recording system 2,pursuant to the present invention.

[0026]FIG. 5 illustrates, in block diagram format, elements of anexemplary embodiment of the present invention including an expanded viewof the recording system 2.

[0027]FIG. 6 shows an example screen display for prompting a customer tocontact the recording system 2 and make a declaration.

[0028]FIG. 7 shows an example screen displayed to the customer after adeclaration has been recorded.

[0029]FIG. 8 shows an example screen displayed to a party to atransaction to facilitate the subsequent retrieval of a recordingpursuant to the present invention.

[0030]FIG. 9 shows exemplary schemata of databases that may be employedby the recording system 2 of the present invention.

[0031]FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary implementation of a client/serverInternet embodiment of the present invention in VoiceXML.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0032] The present invention provides a system and method for recordingevidence of a party's assent to a transaction and subsequently making itavailable to the relying parties. As explained in more detail below,notice of the giving of assent may be transmitted to the relying partiesand the evidence itself made available for access by the parties.

[0033] In the following detailed description, numerous specific detailsare set forth regarding the system and method and the environment inwhich the system and method may operate, etc., in order to provide athorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent,however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without such specific details. In other instances, well-knowncomponents, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail toavoid unnecessarily obscuring the subject matter of the presentinvention. Moreover, various examples are provided to explain theoperation of the present invention. It should be understood that theseexamples are exemplary. It is contemplated that there are other methodsand systems that are within the scope of the present invention. Also,the same references numerals are used in the drawings and in thedescription to refer to the same elements to simplify the description.

[0034] For the purposes of clarity, the party requiring the declarationwill be designated the “Vendor” and the party making the affirmation the“Customer”. The description below is given in the context of aone-vendor, one-customer transaction. It should be understood that thisis exemplary, as the system and method of the present invention areequally suited to multiple party transactions or supporting multipleindependent transactions.

[0035] Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplaryenvironment for carrying out the present invention. Shown in FIG. 1 area vendor 1, a recording system 2 and a customer 3. The vendor 1 iscoupled to the customer 3 by a communications link 4. The vendor 1 isalso coupled to the recording system 2 by a communications link 6.Similarly, the customer 3 is coupled to the recording system 2 by acommunications link 5. The communications links 4, 5 and 6 could be, forexample, direct physical connections, direct leased lines, a telephonenetwork, a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), awireless network, the world-wide web, the Internet, an intranet, RAS,Virtual Private Network (“VPN”), direct cable connection, or any othertype of interconnection that facilitates communication.

[0036] In the exemplary embodiment, the vendor 1 utilizes a computer,such as a general-purpose personal computer, which includes computerreadable media, coupled through the communications links 4 and 6 to anetwork, such as the Internet (not shown). The recording system 2generally comprises a well-known general-purpose computer comprisingcomputer readable media such as hard disks and random access memory. Therecording system 2 could be coupled through the communications links 5and 6 to the Internet and the public switched telephone network (notshown), and could comprise a web server. The computer of the recordingsystem 2 is capable of receiving and answering incoming telephone calls,decoding DTMF tones, performing programmed functions in response to theDTMF tones or voice commands, transmitting voice prompts via the PSTN,sending electronic messages via the Internet and recording voicemessages. The customer 3 may be equipped either with a general-purposepersonal computer that includes computer readable media, or with astandard telephone handset (not shown). The computer readable mediadescribed herein in at least some embodiments of the present inventioncould be a transmission.

[0037] The vendor 1 and the customer 3, when using a standard telephonehandset, would typically be coupled to the recording system 2 via apublic switched telephone network (“PSTN”). The handset would have thecapability to send DTMF tones when buttons are pressed on the telephonekeypad. The handset could be replaced by other devices, such as a mobileor WAP enabled telephone, a personal computer connected to the Internet,a Personal Digital Assistant (“PDA”), or any other type of device thatis capable of sending and receiving electronic and/or voice messages, ora combination of the foregoing.

[0038]FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the recording system2 in greater detail. A network link 10 enables the vendor 1 and thecustomer 3 to communicate with the recording system 2 via thecommunications links 5 and 6. A telephone interface 11 permitscommunication with the customer 3 via the telephone network 10. Thetelephone interface 11 supports the functions of speech recording, voiceoutput (for playing pre-recorded prompts) and the decoding of DTMFtones. Such functionality is offered by a variety of readily availablevoice response computer interface cards. A range of suitable voiceresponse cards, from the Dialogic® D/41 up to the D/640SC, is availablefrom Dialogic Corporation of Parsippany, N.J. A similar range of voicecards is available from Brooktrout Technology® of Needham, Mass., fromthe RDSP/232 to the Vantage VRS. These cards, when operated inconjunction with well-known and commonly available software suites,offer additional functionality such as speaker-independent speechrecognition. The recording system 2 also includes permanent store 13 forarchiving speech recordings.

[0039] The recording system 2 generally comprises a well-knowngeneral-purpose computer with memory devices. The recording system 2could be coupled to the Internet and the PSTN, and could comprise a webserver. In an exemplary embodiment, the computer of the recording system2 is capable of receiving and answering incoming telephone calls,decoding DTMF tones, performing programmed functions in response to theDTMF tones or voice commands, transmitting voice prompts via the PSTN,sending electronic messages via the Internet and recording voicemessages.

[0040] The operation of the present invention will now be more fullydescribed with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. In its exemplaryembodiment, the present invention operates in five phases.

[0041] In the first phase (not illustrated), the requesting party orvendor 1 communicates with the recording system 2 to obtain one or moretransaction identifiers 7. As explained below, these identifiers areused by the recording system 2 to associate a customer 3 with aparticular transaction.

[0042] In the second phase, the vendor 1 initiates a transaction bycommunicating a message to the recording system 2 that specifies anidentification of the vendor 1, a transaction identifier 7 and(optionally) a customer identifier. The recording system 2 checks thevalidity of the transaction identifier 7. If the transaction identifier7 is valid, the recording system 2 then prepares to receive an incomingcommunication from a customer 3 with the validated transactionidentifier 7. The vendor 1 then prompts the customer 3 to communicatewith the recording system 2 to complete the transaction. As illustratedin FIG. 2, the customer 3 is advised to present the transactionidentifier 7 to the recording system 2 and subsequently record adeclaration of assent 8. In the case of an electronic commercetransaction conducted over the Internet using a web browser, the vendor1 might use a web page 19 such as that depicted in FIG. 6; whereas inthe case of a paper transaction, essentially similar instructions can bepresented on paper.

[0043] In the third phase, illustrated in FIG. 3, the customer 3communicates with the recording system 2 to complete the transaction.First the customer 3 presents the transaction identifier 7 to therecording system 2. The recording system 2 responds to the communicationby initiating a speech recording module in the speech interface module11 (see FIG. 5). The customer 2 then records the declaration of assent8. The customer 2 may signal the completion of the recording by pressinga touch-tone key on his telephone, or a key on his computer keyboard.Alternatively, the recording system 2 may determine the completion ofthe recording automatically after a period of silence has elapsed. Therecording system 2 may then present the customer 3 with a menupermitting re-recording, aborting the transaction or allowing it toproceed to completion.

[0044] In an alternative embodiment, the customer 3 may participate inthe third phase by using a microphone attached to the customer's 3personal computer coupled to the Internet. In this case, the interactionwith the recording system 2 will be initiated by activating a userinterface component on the screen of the personal computer, or by anappropriate keystroke on the keyboard of the personal computer, or byappropriate voice-activation commands to the personal computer.Completion of the recording and subsequent interaction will likewise beindicated by a keystroke or by activating a user interface component onthe personal computer screen. An example VoiceXML script to effect theclient side of the third phase in a web form is shown in FIG. 10.

[0045] In the fourth phase, illustrated in FIG. 4, after successfulcompletion of the recording by the customer 3, the recording system 2stores in the permanent store 13 the digitally encoded sound recording,together with the IDs of the parties and a time-stamp. A new identifier9 is used as an index for subsequent retrieval of the recording from thepermanent store 13. This identifier 9 will be referred to as a RecordingRetrieval Identifier (RRI). The recording system 2 then sends a messageto the vendor 1 indicating that the customer 3 has completed therecording, and provides the RRI 9 to the vendor 1. The RRI 9 can be usedby the vendor 1 to obtain a copy of the sound recording. The recordingsystem 2 also communicates to the customer 3 an RRI 9 to retrieve a copyof the same sound recording. If the customer 3 is using an Internetenabled personal computer, the recording system 2 may present thecustomer 3 with a web form 20 such as that shown in FIG. 7, which giveshim the option of obtaining a copy of the recording immediately, oralternatively documenting the RRI 9 to enable retrieval later.Alternatively, if the customer 3 is interacting solely by telephone, therecording system 2 will communicate the RRI 9 to the customer 3 usingvoice announcements.

[0046] It will be seen that the present invention informs the vendor 1that the affirmation has taken place. It thus offers a significantadvantage over previous methods of indicating formal acceptance. Thecombination of forensic admissibility, independent archival and instantnotification makes this method particularly suitable for time-criticalapplications. One such application is credit-card fraud management,where the issuing company may require a formal declaration from thecardholder that he is not responsible for certain disputed transactions,before a new card may be issued.

[0047] Subsequently, in the fifth phase, an Internet message specifyingthe RRI 9 can be used to retrieve the archived voice recording, forexample by means of a web form 21. FIG. 8 shows an example screen 21displayed by the recording system 2 to facilitate the subsequentretrieval of a recording. It shows fields for the input of the RRI 9 andthe party's e-mail address.

[0048] As discussed above, the recording system 2 includes a permanentstore 13. In an exemplary embodiment, a plurality of databases ismaintained in the permanent store 13 to effect the phases of operationdescribed above. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the databases include thefollowing.

[0049] 1. A Vendor Database 14, which contains identifier and contactinformation in respect of each vendor, together with information aboutvalid transaction identifiers 7.

[0050] 2. A Pending Transaction Database 15, storing identifiers 7issued to vendors but not yet activated.

[0051] 3. A Transaction Database 16, providing information about eachtransaction to be affirmed and the parties thereto.

[0052] 4. An optional Customer Database 17 exists to containidentification information about affirming parties 3, for the purpose ofverifying their identity, and also to store customer contact details.

[0053] 5. A Recording Archive 18, which is a database of archived voicerecordings.

[0054] The five phases described above will now be described in furtherdetail in conjunction with a description of how they interact with theplurality of databases comprised within the system.

[0055] In the first phase, the vendor 1 establishes communication withthe recording system 2 to request the issuance of one or moretransaction identifiers 7. The request will contain at least thefollowing:

[0056] identifier of the vendor 1; and

[0057] requested quantity of transaction identifiers.

[0058] The request may also include integrity check data such as thevendor's 1 digital signature.

[0059] The recording system 2 allocates a set of transaction identifiers7 and enters corresponding records into the Pending Transaction Database15. It responds to the vendor 1 indicating:

[0060] first identifier issued;

[0061] number of identifiers issued; and

[0062] request status (e.g., success or reason for failure).

[0063] Because the recording system 2 creates the identifiers, it canprevent conflicts between sets of identifiers used by different vendors1. The vendor 1 may then associate each identifier with a customer 3.

[0064] In the second phase, the vendor 1 initiates the process bycommunicating with the recording system 2 by, for example, transmittingan Internet message to the recording system 2. This communication willcontain at least the following information:

[0065] identifier of the vendor 1; and

[0066] transaction identifier 7 granted to the vendor 1.

[0067] The message may also contain:

[0068] an identifier of the customer 3;

[0069] biometric verification information;

[0070] information as to the content of the affirmation; and

[0071] integrity check data such as the vendor's 1 digital signature.

[0072] The recording system 2 will then consult the Vendor Database 14to verify the vendor's 1 access, and the Pending Transaction Database 15to verify the transaction identifier 7. To be valid, the requestedtransaction identifier 7 must be present in the Pending TransactionDatabase 15. If it is not valid, the recording system 2 will send anerror response to the vendor 1. Otherwise, the recording system 2 willdelete the record from the Pending Transaction Database 15 and thenenter a new record into the Transaction Database 16. The vendor's 1identifier provides a link to the appropriate record of the VendorDatabase 14. This record will be retrieved when the customer 3 affirms.

[0073] When the customer 3 contacts the recording system 2, he isinvited to enter the transaction identifier 7. The customer 3 maycontact the recording system 2 in a number of different ways. In oneembodiment, the recording system 2 receives a voice telephone call. Therecording system 2 automatically answers it and prompts the customer 3to enter the transaction identifier 7, for example by using thetelephone keypad to generate DTMF tones, or by saying the transactionidentifier 7. In another embodiment, the recording system 2 is contactedover the Internet 10 via a web browser, and the customer 3 is promptedto enter the transaction identifier 7 into a form displayed by a webbrowser.

[0074] In both cases, the recording system 2 then invites the customer 3to record a statement of affirmation 8. The speech is recorded eithervia the telephone system or via a microphone attached to the customer's3 Internet device. The customer 3 may indicate that the recording iscomplete by sending a DTMF signal in the case of telephone access, or byactivating a control, e.g., clicking an icon or a hyperlink, on the webpage in the case of Internet access. The recording system 2 may give thecustomer 3 the option of confirming the recording, re-recording it, orabandoning the process. In the latter event, the recording system 2simply discards the recording. If, however, the customer 3 confirms therecording, then a new record is entered into the Recording Archive 18.This record contains the voice recording itself and also vendoridentification information obtained from the Transaction Database 16.The new record is indexed with a Recording Retrieval Identifier 9 whichcan be used to retrieve the recording, and signed with a digitalsignature to prevent any alteration.

[0075] This RRI 9 is communicated to the customer 3. In the case oftelephone contact, the RRI 9 is announced to the customer 3, while inthe case of Internet access, an Internet message may be sent to causethe customer's 3 Internet device to display the RRI 9.

[0076] An RRI 9 is communicated also to the vendor 1, for example by ane-mail message. Transmission of this message to the vendor 1, since itincludes the transaction identifier 7, signals to the vendor that thecustomer 3 has confirmed the transaction, and also that a record of thecustomer's 3 spoken affirmation is available. The vendor 1 may thenaccess the recording system 2 to retrieve the record from the RecordingArchive 18.

[0077] In one embodiment, the recording system 2 presents an Internetweb form wherein an e-mail address and an identifier 9 may be enteredfor the purpose of retrieving a record from the archive 18. Uponsubmission of a valid identifier, the recording system 2 then transmitsto the designated recipient via e-mail 10 a data file, such as a wavefile, containing the corresponding archived voice recording.

[0078] The software executed by the processor 12 of the recording system2 to carry out the present invention can be divided into five modules.

[0079] The first module permits the creation and maintenance of vendor 1records in the Vendor Database 14.

[0080] The second module implements the first phase by interpretingrequests from vendors 1 for transaction identifiers 7 which, ifsuccessful, will result in entries being added to the PendingTransaction Database 15.

[0081] The third module implements the second phase by interpretingrequests from vendors 1 to activate allocated transaction identifiers 7.The requests will include a transaction identifier 7. The module willthen search the Pending Transaction Database 15 for a matching record.If a matching record is not found, then a notice of failure istransmitted to the vendor 1. Otherwise, the request is valid, thematching record in the Pending Transaction Database 15 is deleted and acorresponding new record created in the Transaction Database 16.

[0082] The fourth module implements the third and fourth phases. It willcontrol the telephone interface 11 according to an interaction scriptsuch as the VoiceXML example illustrated in FIG. 10 and store voicerecords in the Recording Archive 18. It will then recite the RRI 9 tothe customer 3. Finally, it will construct an e-mail or similar Internetmessage addressed to the vendor 1 containing the transaction identifier7 and an RRI 9 in respect of the recording just made, and transmit thisto the vendor 1.

[0083] The fifth module implements the fifth phase. It retrieves voicerecordings from the Recording Archive 18 and transmits them to therequesting party via the Internet in response to the receipt of validRRIs 9. It will receive submit messages from an HTML form 21 such asthat depicted in FIG. 8, and extract from the form data the destinatione-mail address and the RRI 9. It will look up the RRI 9 in the RecordingArchive 18 and if unsuccessful will post an error message to the clientweb browser. If, however, a record is found in the Recording Archive 18corresponding to the RRI 9 obtained from the HTML form, then it willcompose an e-mail message containing the data in the retrieved record,attach the recording data as a MIME attachment to the e-mail, andtransmit the e-mail to the e-mail address obtained from the HTML form.

[0084] The system described above admits certain alternativeembodiments. It should be understood that these alternative embodimentsare exemplary. It is contemplated that there are other methods andembodiments that are within the scope of the present invention. Forexample, a particular vendor 1 may be identified by means of a uniquetelephone number or contact point. In this case, the recording system 2may be tailored specifically to the vendor 1. Alternatively, telephonetechnology may be introduced whereby the customer 3 can contact therecording system 2 by prefixing a special numeric sequence to thevendor's 1 telephone number, which the recording system 2 can thenobtain using the Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS) and use toobtain the identity of the vendor 1. In either case, the vendor couldassume responsibility for ensuring the uniqueness of the transactionidentifier 7 as well as associating it with a known customer 3. Thiswould obviate the need for the first two phases of operation of therecording system 2 described above, as well as the Transaction Database16 and the Pending Transaction Database 15. The recording system 2 wouldsimply accept the transaction identifier 7 from the customer 3 andcommunicate it directly to the vendor 1 upon completion of the voicerecording.

[0085] The transaction identifier 7 is required in the third phase sothat the vendor 1 can identify the transaction and the customer 3.However, this may be done without providing the customer 3 with a uniqueidentifier. For example, a vendor 1 may send an identical document tomany different customers 3, identified by a number identifying only thedocument. The recording system 2 may easily be adapted to gather calleridentification (telephonic networks provide a facility known asAutomatic Number Identification or ANI, whereby the caller's telephonenumber is transmitted to the recipient of the call) so that atransaction may be uniquely identified without recourse to a TransactionDatabase 16 or a Pending Transaction Database 15. The recording system 2simplified in this way could nevertheless take advantage of a CustomerDatabase 17 to retain contact details for customers 3.

[0086] The recording method implemented by the recording system 2described above could also be embodied by a human staff as opposed to afully automated system without any essential change to the method ofaffirmation herein described. Likewise, an analog voice recording systemcould be employed in lieu of or in addition to the digital one describedherein.

[0087] The recording method described above admits of severalmodifications. It should be understood that the described modificationsare exemplary. It is contemplated that there are other methods andmodifications that are within the scope of the present invention.

[0088] In the first place, a voice biometric mechanism may be used tocheck automatically whether the voice of the customer 3 matches apreviously generated speech profile based on samples known to beauthentic. (It is to be noted that the TradeHarbor Voice SignatureService performs this role in a similar context. However, it focusesentirely on the identity of the speaker and does not record evidence ofinformed consent.) In the field of interactive voice response systems,integration toolkits such as Veritel's VoiceCheck™ are widely used forsuch purposes. Using such verification mechanism, information on thecloseness of the match between the live voice and a previously generatedspeech profile could then be relayed to the vendor 1 in addition to theRRI notification in the fourth phase. This profile could either begenerated independently, and provided by the vendor 1 in the secondphase, or generated by the recording system 2 itself by applyingbiometric analysis techniques to previous voice samples from the samecustomer 3. Examples of appropriate techniques are taught by Savic in“Variable Parameter Speaker Verification System Based on Hidden MarkovModeling”, ICASSP '90, Acoustics, Speech and Signal ProcessingConference, 1990; Farrell et al. in “Speaker Recognition Using NeuralNetworks and Conventional Classifiers,” IEEE Trans. on Speech and AudioProcessing, v. 2, n. 1, p. 11, pp. 194-205, January 1994; and Farrell in“Text-Dependent Speaker Verification Using Data Fusion,” ICASSP-95, May9-12, 1995, pp. 349-352.

[0089] Likewise, a continuous speech recognition system such asSoftSound, available from Autonomy Corporation of Cambridge, England,could be employed to verify the closeness of the oral affirmation to thetext communicated to the customer 3 in the third phase. Gist recognitiontechnology such as that developed by Autonomy Corporation could be usedto compare the “gist” or meaning of the oral affirmation and of theoriginal text and generate a similarity score. This could then becommunicated to the vendor 1 with the RRI notification in the fourthphase. Again, a human operator could perform this speech recognitionfunction.

[0090] A further modification to the proposed method and system would bea module supplied to the vendor 1 to archive the RRI notificationstransmitted in the fourth phase (FIG. 4). This would essentially allowthe vendor 1 to review and audit all contracts. It could be expanded topermit classifications (for example, by type of contract) and queries bycustomer, thus serving as both a contract management and customercontact archive. Because of the automatic and independent archival offormal acceptance declarations, such an archive would have exceptionalvalue to an auditor.

[0091] The method and system of the present invention could also beconfigured to permit conference calls wherein one caller would act aswitness to the identity of the principal affirming party 3. In thiscase, the recording system 2 could prompt the witness to record asubsequent affirmation to the effect that he or she verifies theidentity of the first speaker. Or in another example, a governmentalauthority such as a Judge might merely declare his presence.

[0092] Future developments in Internet-based telephony will proliferatevideo telephone and videoconferencing peripherals. The current inventionwill easily admit of enhancement by adding concurrent video recording tothe speech recording encompassed by the embodiment described above,either as a second, parallel recording or as a combined voice/videorecording using industry-standard formats such as the MPEG family. Sucha development could be further enhanced by the addition of a biometricfacial recognition system such as the TrueFace® system available fromeTrue, Inc. of Southboro, Mass., who supply a software toolkit forintegration of facial recognition functions into existing applicationssoftware.

[0093] In summary, the present invention reverts to the fundamentalprinciple behind an enforceable contract or solemn declaration, namely,the existence of forensic evidence of an individual's intent. Itproposes a system and method for making a speech recording of intent,archiving this speech recording, and notifying and making itautomatically available to interested parties.

[0094] Naturally, the method and system of the present invention is ofbroader application than to commercial vendor/customer contracts asdescribed herein. For example, it may be applied to statutorydeclarations accompanying electronic tax payments. It can also be usedfor voting.

[0095] It is envisaged that this system will satisfy or obviate the needfor a signature. The system and method proposed lend themselves both topostal and Internet contracts and declarations, but will be capable ofcontributing to the security and forensic admissibility of electroniccommerce in the years to come.

[0096] Although the invention has been described and illustrated in theforegoing exemplary embodiments, it is understood that the presentdisclosure has been made only by way of example, and that numerouschanges in the details of construction and combination and arrangementof processes and equipment may be made without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention as claimed below.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for recording evidence of consent to atransaction involving a relying party and an affirming party, theconsent being recorded by a voice recording system, the methodcomprising the steps of: providing a transaction identifier to therelying party to the transaction, the transaction identifier beingtransmitted by the relying party to the affirming party, the transactionidentifier corresponding to the transaction; receiving the transactionidentifier from the affirming party after establishing electroniccommunications between the affirming party and the voice recordingsystem; receiving a voice message from the affirming party, the voicemessage indicating that the affirming party assents to the transaction;recording and storing the voice message at the voice recording system;generating a recording identifier associated with the recorded voicemessage; and communicating the recording identifier to the relyingparty.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of receivingthe recording identifier and, in response to said receipt, providing therecorded voice message.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step ofproviding the transaction identifier to the relying party furthercomprises providing the transaction identifier to the relying party viaa telephone network.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step ofproviding the transaction identifier to the relying party furthercomprises providing the transaction identifier to the relying party viaa computer network.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step ofreceiving a voice message from the affirming party further comprisesreceiving the voice message from the affirming party via a telephonenetwork.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving a voicemessage from the affirming party further comprises receiving the voicemessage from the affirming party via a computer network.
 7. The methodof claim 1 wherein the relying party communicates the transactionidentifier to the affirming party via an electronic message.
 8. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising the step of authenticating theaffirming party using biometric information provided by the affirmingparty.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction identifier iscommunicated from the relying party to the affirming party by a paperdocument.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction identifieris communicated from the relying party to the affirming party in anInternet message.
 11. A method for recording consent to a transactionusing a voice recording system, the transaction involving a relyingparty and an affirming party, the method comprising the steps of:receiving a transaction identifier at the voice recording system;recording a voice message received from the affirming party, the voicemessage indicating that the affirming party assents to the transaction;storing the voice message in the voice recording system; and associatinga recording identifier with the recorded voice message.
 12. The methodof claim 11 wherein the step of receiving a transaction identifierfurther comprises the step of receiving the transaction identifierduring establishment of communications between the affirming party andthe recording system.
 13. The method of claim 11 wherein the step ofreceiving a transaction identifier further comprises the step ofreceiving the transaction identifier after establishment ofcommunications between the affirming party and the recording system. 14.The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of providing therecording identifier to the relying party.
 15. The method of claim 11further comprising the step of providing the recording identifier to theaffirming party.
 16. The method of claim 11 further comprising the stepof notifying the relying party that the voice message has been stored.17. A method for obtaining evidence of consent to a transactioninvolving a relying party and an affirming party, the method comprisingthe steps of: the relying party associating a transaction identifierwith the transaction; providing the transaction identifier to theaffirming party; the relying party receiving a recording identifier froma voice storage system, receipt of the recording identifier indicatingthat the affirming party assented to the transaction by providing avoice message that has been recorded by the voice storage system, therecording identifier associated with the recorded voice message.
 18. Themethod of claim 17 wherein the transaction identifier is received at arelying party communications device from the voice storage system.
 19. Amethod for gathering evidence of assent to a proposition, the methodcomprising the steps of: assigning an identifier to the proposition, theidentifier associating a party with the proposition; communicating theidentifier to the party to enable the party to record a spokendeclaration of assent to the proposition; and upon making the recordedspoken declaration, receiving notification that the recording has beencompleted.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the recording isinitiated by receipt of the identifier by a recording system from theparty.
 21. A system for recording consent to a transaction involving arelying party and an affirming party, the system comprising: means forproviding a transaction identifier to the relying party to thetransaction, the transaction identifier corresponding to thetransaction; means for receiving a voice message from the affirmingparty, after receipt of the transaction identifier from the affirmingparty, the voice message indicating that the affirming party assents tothe transaction; means for recording the voice message; means forstoring the voice message; and means for providing a recordingidentifier to the relying party, the recording identifier associatedwith the recorded voice message.
 22. A method for recording a solemndeclaration, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a declarationidentifier from an affirming party, the declaration identifiercorresponding to the declaration; receiving a voice message from theaffirming party, the voice message including a statement of the solemndeclaration; recording and storing the voice message; and associating arecording identifier with the recorded voice message.
 23. The method ofclaim 22 further comprising the step of communicating the declarationidentifier from a recording system to a relying party, prior to the stepof receiving a declaration identifier.
 24. A method for entering into acontract comprising the steps of: a party receiving a contract andinstructions how to signify agreement to the contract, includinginstructions as to how to establish communications with a recordingsystem; establishing communications between the party to the contractand the recording system; communicating a transaction identifier to therecording system; in response to a prompt from the recording system,communicating a spoken declaration to indicate assent to the contract.25. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of receiving arecording identifier from the recording system.
 26. The method of claim25 further comprising the step of providing the recording identifier tothe party to the contract.
 27. A computer readable medium comprising acomputer program for recording evidence of consent to a transactioninvolving a relying party and an affirming party, the consent beingrecorded by a voice recording system, by performing the steps of:providing a transaction identifier to the relying party to thetransaction, the transaction identifier being transmitted by the relyingparty to the affirming party, the transaction identifier correspondingto the transaction; receiving the transaction identifier from theaffirming party after establishing electronic communications between theaffirming party and the voice recording system; receiving a voicemessage from the affirming party, the voice message indicating that theaffirming party assents to the transaction; recording and storing thevoice message at the voice recording system; generating a recordingidentifier associated with the recorded voice message; and communicatingthe recording identifier to the relying party.
 28. A computer readablemedium comprising a computer program for recording consent to atransaction using a voice recording system, the transaction involving arelying party and an affirming party, by performing the steps of:receiving a transaction identifier from the affirming party afterestablishing communications between the affirming party and the voicerecording system, the transaction identifier corresponding to thetransaction; recording a voice message received from the affirmingparty, the voice message indicating that the affirming party assents tothe transaction; storing the voice message in the voice recordingsystem; and associating a recording identifier with the recorded voicemessage.
 29. The computer readable medium of claim 28 wherein thecomputer program performs the additional step of communicating therecording identifier to the relying party.